Edito

Dear readers,

Dear partners and supports of the LACTIMED project,

LACTIMED project officially concluded on 31 December 2015, after three years of Mediterranean cooperation to promote typical dairy products.On behalf of the LACTIMED consortium, the coordination team would like to thank all the partners and stakeholders that have been involved, who contributed to the success of this project. We would like to thank particularly the Joint Technical Secretariat and the Managing Authority of the ENPI-CBC MED Programme, and the European Commision for their support and trust.

We have reached, even exceeded most of the objectives established, and the next months will allow us to assess the impact of our actions. Especially, eight pilot clusters have been developed around priorities such as quality, commercialisation and access to finance for SMEs. We have mentored 38 entrepreneurs on their projects development and the 10 most innovative projects of the sector benefited from a EUR 100,000 grant. Promotion and commercialisation have involved 104 MSMEs producers while the common actions on 15 towns in 6 countries, allowing them to promote and sell their dairy products to thousand of consumers and professionals. They also participated in 1308 business meetings with 150 buyers.

Other important results also deserve to be highlighted and you can find it in the LACTIMED final Brochure and in the LACTIMED video, showing the most significant steps and results of the project.

The whole work has benefited from the close cooperation of hundreds of stakeholders and businesses involved for more than three years towards a common objective: Strengthening the production and distribution of typical dairy products in the Mediterranean. This cooperation has been enhanced during the project, whether across the pilot territories or the Mediterranean region: It witnessed the emergence of a network of people and stakeholders gathering private sector, public authorities, academic institutions and civil society. This network provides a solid basis for further developments, to face challenges that still remain in the sector - highlighted on the LACTIMED White Paper - and raising all its potential.

Moreover, this project ending is the opportunity to invite you to follow the exchanges with the Mediterranean dairy chain stakeholders, and to meet them through the 28 agri-touristic steps highlighted in the Route of Mediterranean dairy products, recently launched.